This is an adapted extract from October 27 episode of “Velshi”.

In every presidential election for over 50 years, the major candidates have participated in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” in October, just before the elections, to talk about their policies, their program and their values. This is a traditional final exhibition of the candidates for whom Americans could vote in a few weeks. Vice President Kamala Harris accepted CBS’ interview request and, at first, also Donald Trump.

But then, a week before the interview, Trump withdrew. Among other unfounded complaints, his campaign objected to CBS’ commitment to fact-check the interview, which is a common practice. Hours after the Harris interview aired, Trump took to his social media site to rant about how terrible the interview had been and how badly it had gone for the vice president.

But soon he changed course and began attacking “60 Minutes” and CBS more broadly, accusing the network of manipulating the interview. CBS responded, explaining that the interview was simply edited for the sake of time and not to change the meaning or impact of Harris’ responses.

Asset posted on his social media site:

After his September debate with Harris on ABC News, Trump also called for the network’s broadcast license to be revoked. Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, called Trump’s threat “serious” and said it “should not be ignored.”

“The FCC does not and will not revoke broadcast station licenses simply because a political candidate disagrees with or does not like media content or coverage,” Rosenworcel said in a statement.

And last week, Trump also threatened Comcast, MSNBC’s parent company saying it should be investigated for “threatening treason against the country.”

But this week we saw two major news outlets, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, both of which are owned by billionaires, refuse to endorse a candidate, despite both newspapers’ tradition of doing so and despite the fact that both newspapers’ editorial boards have prepared endorsements for Harris.

Clearly, Trump wields his power to control narratives about himself, and the atmosphere created by his intimidation and threats is sometimes enough to intimidate powerful people into falling into line. There is a name for this type of behavior, anticipatory obedience or anticipatory obedience.

We’re seeing it happen this week with these newspaper mentions, but we’ve seen it before.

Barely five years ago, Nikole Hannah-Jones published “The 1619 Project”. It began as a 100-page article in The New York Times Magazine, aiming to place race, the consequences of slavery, and the contributions of Black Americans at the center of our national narrative.

But just months after Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for her comments on her work on the project, then-President Trump sparked what would become a nationwide backlash against her ideas.

“The left has misrepresented, misrepresented and sullied American history with deceptions, lies and falsehoods. There is no better example than the New York Times’ totally discredited 1619 Project. » Trump said in 2020. “This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom.”

Shortly thereafter, Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting the ideas behind the “1619 Project.” One of these decrees established something called “The Commission of 1776” it was a promise to focus the story on what the Trump administration called “patriotic education,” avoiding divisive topics like race and slavery.

In the years following its publication, States would present at least 23 proposed hush orders targeting the “1619 Project” by name. Dozens of other bills targeted him indirectly, usually by attempting to prohibit discussion of his core ideas. But the apparent vendetta against Hannah-Jones did not end with Trump. The University of North Carolina denied him a permanent position even if she was, on the contrary, overqualified for the position.

Four years after Hannah-Jones was targeted, we see important institutions, our schools, our media, our government officials, preemptively taking a knee in the face of Trump’s threats. We are watching in real time as once highly respected organizations succumb to pressure and power; succumb to intimidation and obey in advance the tyrannical and undemocratic demands of the former president. And as Trump’s attacks on the media intensify in the final days of this election, it is essential that the press fulfills its duty to hold power to account.

Ali Velshi

Ali Velshi is the host of “Velshi,” which airs Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC. He received the National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer Reporting for “How the Wheels Came Off,” a special about the near-collapse of the American auto industry. His work on disabled workers and the 2016 Chicago red-light camera scandal earned him two Emmy nominations for news and documentary, adding to a nomination in 2010 for his coverage of terrorism.

Sofia Miller And Allison Detzel contributed.